The game was played two times in November 2014 and totalled 140 players. Looking at reactions and feedback from all of them based upon surveys on player satisfaction, one can be pretty sure that Black Friday was a remarkable larp for the Italian scene for many reasons.

First of all, it was a high-budget larp written in the Nordic tradition, which is getting more and more attention, but is still quite uncommon in Italy. The larp was also heavy on technology and scenery. But the most important feature in its design was the organizing team, which comprised people from very different associations and traditions, as well as “lone wolves” and even newbies to larpwrighting. For this reason, this article will discuss this larp through the voices of some of the people behind it in interview style.

The Beginning

“It all started during Larp Symposium 2013,” explains Francesco Pregliasco the project coordinator. Larp Symposium is a yearly meeting of larpers and the Italian equivalent of Knudepunkt. “Some organizers from Chaos League, Cronosfera, and Terre Spezzate met and realized that everyone was interested in working together. There was mutual respect.”

Mario Di Cintio elaborates, “On the occasion of Larp Symposium, I had the chance to know a lot of different associations. Each of them sees larp in a different way than mine. But still, everyone had the will to share their experiences. Hadn’t there been that meeting for knowing each other, I’d never had the grounds to think this project feasible.”

Aladino Amantini continues, “We wanted to accomplish something new. Something that could raise the quality level from the larps that we had organized until that moment. At least in my case, enthusiasm brought me to the synergy.”

But why look for new partners in organizing such a high expectations event? Wouldn’t it be easier to rely on a well-established team?

Alessandro Giovannucci, explains, “Matching with other people helps you [find] new ways. You can get inspiration from every source, but larp is a performative art like music or theatre, so it also needs practice. And you can improve it only by doing things together. You learn jazz by taking part in jam sessions, not reading books. That said, theory must not be overshadowed: most of the bad larps had too few [thoughts] behind them. My organizing team, Chaos League, has more than 20 years of experience, with a strong identity in style. But working with others is very interesting, useful, and funny. I [taught] and I learned. I hope that in Italy, we’ll have more projects like that. It’s a hard way and not many people went through it before, but the renewal of the national larp scene can begin also here.”